Gerald L. Dirks MBA, MBB

**** ******** **** *. *., St. Michael, MN 55376

Home 763-***-****, Cell 612-***-****

acbyau@r.postjobfree.com

Summary of Qualifications

• Accomplished professional Plant Engineering Manager with broad and diverse plant engineering/maintenance

leadership experience with international Fortune 500 companies. Successfully managing both union and non-union

work teams.

• Corporate maintenance / plant engineering responsibility for 40+ international locations.

• Broad Plant Engineering management experience involving: maintenance computer systems, department metrics,

“Total Productive Maintenance” implementation, capital project budgeting and management, fire systems, security,

safety, OSHA, Workers Compensation, expense budgeting, contract engineering management, roofing, parking lots,

engineering documentation and all facets of facility management.

• Environmental experience involving: superfund, PCB cleanup, groundwater cleanup, industrial wastewater,

hazardous waste, spill prevention, plant closing and employee environmental education.

• Managed numerous capital projects up to $10mm that included all areas of new manufacturing equipment purchases

and upgrades. Managed numerous facility upgrade projects from roofing to property sale, leasing and purchase.

• Completed lean six sigma projects that included a 100% clean sheet relayout of a manufacturing / warehouse

• Procter and Gamble trained Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM) Lean Manufacturing Instructor. Studied under

Mr. F. Murata, former executive with Toyota Motor Company, Japan.

• Managed company wide, international, safety initiative that included the design and introduction of new safety

procedures that reduced workers compensation costs by over 50%. Received several awards for the success of the

improvements. Worked nearly 3mm hours without a lost time injury.

• From ground up managed the construction of new $10mm manufacturing and warehouse.

• Successfully developed and implemented several comprehensive computerized maintenance management and

preventative maintenance systems.

Employment History

Saint Jude Medical, Minneapolis, MN

Senior Continuous Improvement Engineer 2012 – Dec 2013

Saint Jude Medial is an international $6b cardiac medical device manufacturer with 16k employees.

Reporting to the Manager of Continuous Improvement, this position is responsible for high value, complex continuous

improvement projects and training.

• Conducted Lean Kaizen activity in Final Packaging department that transformed the final pack process to single

piece flow, Kanban inventory, implemented single bar code readers and freed over 200 ft2 floor space.

• Developed and delivered Global Root Cause Problem Solving training.

• Evaluated and delivered solutions for component warehouse with sterile packing operation.

• Managed device manufacturing process improvement project with a targeted cost savings of 20%.

• Established tools and methods to manage WIP and accurate production scheduling.

• Developed color code standards for 5S improvements.

• Revised 5S training materials and delivered training for multiple production teams.

• Implemented direct line performance metrics for target production line.

Olympus Surgical – Gyrus ACMI, Minneapolis, MN

Lean Six Sigma Manager 2008 – 2011

Gyrus ACMI is a division of Olympus Co. Tokyo Japan. The Maple Grove operation employees 350 and manufactures

electro surgical devices primarily used for laparoscopic procedures.

Reporting to the Vice President of Operations this position was responsible for all facets of implementing a continuous

improvement process with the ultimate goal of significant culture change increasing the involvement of all employees’ in

future continuous improvement projects. More than 50% of the hourly employees were non native English speakers thus

increasing the learning challenge.

• Obtained $280K Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program training grant.

• Developed and currently implemented multiyear continuous improvement plan.

• Developed continuous improvement reward system using project posters and “Wall of Fame”.

• Key team member in the investigation and resolution of premature failures of complex electronic device.

• Key team member that quickly investigated and resolved failure on recalled surgical device.

• Lead a team that developed meaningful customer complaint information.

• Redesigned key product assembly line increasing throughput by nearly 300%.

• Mentored Green Belt project that reduced misdirected incoming calls to previous levels.

Ryerson Metals, Minneapolis, MN 1996 - 2007

Master Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma 2003 - 2007

Manager Corporate Operations Engineering 1996 - 2003

Master Black Belt

Reporting to the Director of Lean Six Sigma, this position is responsible for managing the green and black belt training

program including developing and delivering portions of the training. Other responsibilities include the mentoring of 7

green and blacks to ensure timely and successful completion of business improvement projects.

• Completed projects:

• 100% manufacturing and warehouse plant redesign that allowed the consolidation of 2 plants into one

location.

• Also lead a team that redesigned the annual companywide budgeting process.

• Completed a team project that increased shipping efficiency and avoided a $1.2mm capital expansion.

• Lean evaluation and process redesign of key “service department”.

Manager of Corporate Operations Engineering

Reporting to the Vice President Corporate Operations, this position is the direct back up. Primary responsibilities include

providing corporate maintenance, facility and equipment support to 43 plants. Responsible for operations effectiveness,

facility maintenance management, productivity improvement, health, safety, worker compensation, environmental

compliance, risk management and ISO 9000 leadership.

• Developed and implemented comprehensive health and safety process that decreased employee injuries to 1/3

previous level and reduced workers compensation costs by 50%.

• While leading the safety initiative, the company worked nearly 3mm hours without a lost time injury.

• As co-leader for company wide quality process, provide ongoing leadership for the ISO 9000 quality system. Three

plants are currently registered with five plants preparing for registration.

• Managed numerous plant and equipment capital projects including the construction of a $10mm new processing and

warehouse plant in Denver, purchase installation and commissioning of 750kw peak shaving electrical generator with

computer room standby power source. Managed countless projects under $1mm that included equipment moves,

upgrades, paving, roofing remodeling, etc.

HSBRT Reliability Consulting Division, Eden Prairie

Management Consultant/Project Manager 1994-1996

Direct Responsibility for the assessment, plan development and implementation of business improvement for Fortune 500

clients.

• Conducted client assessment of refinery maintenance management practices with annual petroleum processing of

$1.8b. Successfully implemented documented annual savings of $8mm and additional improvements with an

estimated future savings potential of $20mm.

• Facilitated changes in: organizational structure, maintenance work measurements, work planning, scheduling and

execution, process reliability and cultural change.

• Developed and fostered team based maintenance management system.

Procter and Gamble, The Fisher Nut Company, St. Paul, MN 1990 - 1994

Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM)/Technical Department Manager 1992 - 1994

Good Manufacturing Practices Manager (GMP) 1991 - 1992

Warehouse Manager 1990 - 1991

• Over this four year period, held positions of expanding responsibility and leadership.

• Developed and implemented lean manufacturing TPM process that involved plant wide training and culture change.

TPM is team-based ownership of equipment and processes they operate (Toyota Production Model). Process

reliability on project equipment improved 60%.

• Developed and implemented total maintenance department reorganization plan.

• Managed over $2mm of capital and expense Good Manufacturing Practices projects over a ten-month period that

increased the plant quality rating to P&G’s highest level.

• Developed and implemented inventory management methods that improved inventory control (reduced shrinkage) by

400%, $600K annually.

I.M.I. Cornelius Inc., Anoka, MN 1983 - 1989

Manager of Plant Services

Broad management responsibility for: plant engineering, capital and expense budgets and project execution, tool and die

operations, multi facility environmental compliance, safety, security and equipment and facility maintenance.

• Through employee - management teamwork, reduced maintenance operating expenses by $2mm, and reduced tool

and die costs by $60k while increasing schedule compliance to 95%.

• Managed significant environmental issues which included: Superfund site negotiations, PCB cleanup, wastewater

pretreatment system selection, installation and operation and groundwater remediation.

• Guided the successful development and implementation of a comprehensive plant wide preventive and predictive

maintenance management program.

• Managed numerous plant capital projects.

Education/Training:

Design for Six Sigma 2004

M.B.A. - University of St. Thomas 1990

B.S. - St. Cloud State University, 1983

Yellow Belt Instructor 2004

Engineering Technology, Honors

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt 2003

Master Black Belt - BMG University 2006

Train the Trainer, Adult Learner

ISO 9000 Registered Assessor #94/05/4669 1994

Lean for Transactional Business Process

Six Sigma Toolmaster

Procter and Gamble, TPM Lean Manufacturing 1992

Six Sigma Transactional Toolmaster

Instructor Training

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